Police Report: Aug. 31, 2010

Man faces charges after firing gun: St. Augustine police officers responded to gunshots being fired at the M & M Market on Bridge Street around 5 a.m. Tuesday morning, according to a police report.

Officers said they saw Raj Patel, 30, fire a Rugar .38 special twice from his porch at 102 Bridge St., the report said. Witnesses reportedly told officers they heard three gunshots ring out before police arrived.

Additional officers arrived and tried to get Patel to leave his apartment. After several attempts, Patel left his apartment though a rear entrance and was taken into police custody, the report said. He admitted to police that he fired six rounds, the report said.

Police found six shell casings inside his apartment, and a computer check revealed the gun was reported stolen out of St. Johns County in December 2008. Police also found six small bags with a total of 165 grams of marijuana and $3,862 in cash inside the apartment, the report said.

Patel faces charges of possession of marijuana with intent to sell, discharging a firearm and possession of a stolen firearm.

ST. AUGUSTINE

Man found with drugs in Winn-Dixie bathroom: A St. Augustine man faces drug charges after he was found screaming on the bathroom floor in a Winn-Dixie on Monday night, according to a police report.

St. Augustine Police officers arrived at the Winn-Dixie at 1010 south U.S. 1 around 10:30 p.m. Monday when a store manager called police to report a suspicious person wandering around the store for more than an hour, the report said.

The manager told officers that Matthew Allen, 31, was talking to himself and taking items off the shelves, putting them into a cart and then replacing them on the shelf.

Officers said that Allen was lethargic and said he was tired from working all night. He told police he was waiting for his wife to pick him up from the store.

Officers left the Winn-Dixie once the manager agreed to allow Allen to quickly finish his shopping, the report said.

But they were soon called back to the store when employees found Allen on the bathroom floor screaming, the report said. Police found Allen with his back up against the stall door and feet pressed against the toilet. A needle was found inside a Coke can floating in the toilet, the report said.

Allen told officers he was trying to "shoot up," but he couldn't find his pill, the report said. The needle and can, which contained a blue liquid, were taken as evidence, the report said.

Allen faces charges of possession of drug equipment and tampering with evidence.

Witnesses told Flagler County Sheriff's deputies that, while waiting for the morning school bus around 6:52 a.m., Giuseppe Verdone Jr., of Bannerwood Lane, took a bottle and added a mixture of household cleaner and another household item, the report said. He placed the bottle in the grass at the Bird of Paradise and Biscayne Drive bus stop. After a few minutes, the bottle exploded, the report said.

A witness contacted the Flagler County school, which notified the bus garage, the report said. The bus driver was instructed to stop at a safe location and wait for law enforcement.

Verdone was taken into custody at the Home Depot parking lot in Palm Coast, the report said. After questioning by investigators, the teenager was charged with two felonies: possession or discharge of a destructive device at a bus stop and discharging a destructive device.

He was taken to the Flagler County Inmate Facility and was being held Tuesday afternoon on $1,000 bond, the report said.

POLICE REPORTS

The following was compiled from police reports collected from the St. Johns County Sheriff's Office (SJCSO), the St. Augustine Police Department (SAPD), the St. Augustine Beach Police Department (SABPD) and the Florida Highway Patrol (FHP):